


miracles

by soggywormcircus



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Post-Canon, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28407663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soggywormcircus/pseuds/soggywormcircus
Summary: Dominik knows his way around lies. He knows how to look at a piece of information, a fact, and pulling the truth out of it, telling if there's any in it at all. It's something that comes with the business.
Relationships: Dominik Koudelka/Renée Minkowski
Comments: 12
Kudos: 23





	miracles

Dominik knows his way around lies. He knows how to look at a piece of information, a fact, and pulling the truth out of it, telling if there's any in it at all. It's something that comes with the business. 

He wouldn't exactly say he's a sceptic. After all, when he opens the paper on that one morning he remembers so well, he doesn't doubt it for one moment. 

He holds on to the counter in his- their- his kitchen, and he believes it right away.

Why wouldn't he? It's not a long shot. People die in space all the time. 

He vaguely remembers telling Renée just that when she told him about her new job. 

People die in space all the time, Renée. It's not the same as the air force. It's not the same at all. 

Renée had looked at him with eyes that were so tired. I know, she had said. I know, Dominik. 

But.

There was always a but with Renée. And now she was dead. 

He was here, on the surface of Earth, and his wife was dead, and she hadn't even died on the planet that he was on. 

He hadn't even had the time to stop being angry at her. 

Their kitchen turns into his kitchen. Their friends turn into his friends. Dominik stares at the collection of CDs in _his_ living room and he doesn't know what to do with it. 

The worst part of this is that life ends up just going on. He continues being Mister Koudelka working for the Globe. 

The worst part about this is that his life goes on and he doesn't even shudder every time he calls it _his_ life, and then, years later, when it makes the news around the country, it comes out of nowhere. 

This time, though, things are a little different. Which means he sits in front of his television, hearing the people talk about the missing (missing, why are they calling them missing, they were never missing, they were always _dead_ ) astronauts returning to Earth in a perfect, unlikely, once in a lifetime miracle, and he recognises one of those names, and he-

He doesn't believe it. 

It doesn't mean that he doesn't want it to be true. In fact, he wants it to be true so badly that it makes his stomach turn, because he hasn't thrown away any of Renée's CDs and he's listened to them so often that by now he'd love to throw them into Renée's _face_ -

He does want to believe it. But he- 

He keeps hearing the word 'miracle', on the radio and on television and from his coworkers and he is a journalist, and one thing he knows is that a miracle-

Very rarely really happens. 

People clap on his back and pull him into hugs, they say, I can't believe it, and I can't imagine how you must be feeling, and all that Dominik is feeling is dread. 

He loves Renée, though. And he's still angry at her, and if she's really still alive, if she's really coming home, then he's going to make sure she knows both of these things. 

So he takes the next plane to Florida and the people sitting next to him are so excited about the news, and Dominik has spoken at Renée's funeral and cried all his tears and yet he doesn't think he's ever been more _afraid-_

When he sees Renée, he almost doesn't recognise her. Or maybe he still doesn't quite believe it. 

She does look different, though. 

She looks smaller and bigger at the same time. Her hair is buzzed short. There's something in her eyes that Dominik, with all the words he has at his disposal, can only describe as haunted. 

Their eyes meet, and Dominik realises that maybe, just maybe, Renée's steps are hesitant because she, also, isn't sure if this is real. If she really can have this. 

Dominik doesn't know what she's been through. He doesn't have the smallest idea. He thinks he does know what she might be feeling right now. 

She's standing right in front of him now, and the only thing Dominik can do is touch her. He puts a hand on her shoulder, on her arm, and yes, that's a shoulder, that's an arm. That's the body of a person he can touch, a person that's here. 

He can't help it, anyway. In the tiniest voice, he asks, 'Renée?' 

Renée takes one shaky breath and puts a hand on his chest. His heart is beating fast, fast. Like a deer in headlights. Like an absolute fool. 

Like someone that cannot believe what he is holding in his hands. 

'Dominik,' Renée says. She smiles, just a little, in that way that Dominik- god, that he _knows,_ and that he missed so _much-_

'Hi.' 

That's the last thing any of them say before Dominik pulls his not-dead wife into a bone-crushing hug. 

Renée laughs, with the rest of the air that Dominik isn't squeezing out of her. She runs a hand through his hair like she can't believe she's really allowed to, god, she's really here, she's really, actually _here,_ and Dominik has missed her so much. 

'You,' Dominik says, his voice just about to break, 'have an awful lot of nerve, showing up here after everything.' 

Renée laughs out loud. 'Oh, you're not still mad about that, are you, Dom? I mean, that was _years_ ago.' 

Dominik laughs, and the tears that stain Renée's shoulder are of relief, and his knees are about to give in but he _cannot_ let go of her now, cannot let her turn around and walk right back into space only to die again. 

'You look different,' he whispers into Renée's neck. It's probably not something he has to tell her, but it's easier to fill the silence. 

Renée takes a deep breath. 'I know,' she says. 'A lot has happened.'

She pulls away from him and has a closer look at his face. She wipes the tears away with her thumb and he's once again struck by the realisation that this is real, that this is Renée, and this is real.

'You don't, though,' she says softly. 'You look just like- you look just like- you look just like home.' 

There's not really anything that Dominik can do except to hug her again. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!


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